tgafandomcom-20200213-history
Church of the Memory of Cardia
| region = Remon | races = | allegiance = Grand Alliance | enemies = | ageoftga = Third Age | established = 1006 AE | abolished = 1017 AE | predecessor = Clergy of Cardia }} The Church of the Memory of Cardia was a Remonian offshoot from the Clergy of Cardia which was active in the years after the Cataclysm in late Third Age. It promoted Order and Light and valued Cardia's sacrifice. The goal of the church was to make the world a better place by promoting order and destroying anyone who refused to acknowledge the superiority of light over darkness. The members consisted mainly of fanatic knights templar, paladins and white mages. The church's base of operations was originally in Remonton and, after the city's fall, they moved to Fragnar until it fell as well during the Second Great War when the Plague of Undeath hit Remon. The church diminished in the following years, and by the Fourth Age it had ceased to exist as its members had either died off or moved on to other clergies. The few that remained loyal to Cardia either wandered the land as priests or found homes in the temples in other settlements, mere shadows of their former selves. History Third Age The Remonian branch of the Clergy of Cardia became an offshoot from the main clergy in 1006 AE after the Godslayer had devoured the clergy's patron god Cardia in the Cataclysm. Many clerics went through a crisis of faith when they realized that their god had come to an end, and matters remained thus until Jonathan Ferron anointed himself as the high cleric of a new Remonian branch of the clergy and began promoting a new dogma for his church: hunting down those who were tainted by the shadow of Mardük to renew the clerics' faith. The offshoot renamed itself the Church of the Memory of Cardia to distance itself from the Clergy of Cardia which still lingered on in other kingdoms. Thanks to the clerics' determination and faith, they managed to keep Central and Northern Remon relatively safe in the chaotic years following the Cataclysm. They hunted down any of Mardük's agents they could find, both demons and men alike. This led them on the trail of the half-demon Refan d'Zarnagon's family, eventually capturing Refan and his son Gabriel d'Zarnagon for interrogation. High Cleric Jonathan Ferron and the church effectively ruled Remonton in a council of stewards until the Proninist Party staged a coup and publicly executed many clerics in 1016 AE, forcing Ferron to flee and regroup his forces in Fragnar which became the church's new base of operations. After King Marcus Sarillius had returned and driven the Proninists off of Remonton, the church was one of the factions attending the Remonton Summit which led to the formation of the new Grand Alliance. Ferron and the church backed up the king and acknowledged his right to the throne while also using the Alliance's campaign abroad as a means to spread the church's faith to nonbelievers. While the Second Great War raged and the king and the high cleric were busy leading the army of the Alliance abroad, the Totenkopfs emerged from the shadows. With the help of the treacherous and powerhungry Bishop Arbriel Conrad, they released a variant of the Blood Fever which became known as the Plague of Undeath. The plague not only killed those who came in touch with it but turned them into undead who hungered for the flesh of the living. These undead, who became known as the Wretched, assaulted Remonton and other nearby settlements, consuming or converting everyone in their path. Their path eventually led them to Fragnar where they decimated much of the church's leadership. By late 1017 AE, only a few clerics remained on Remonian soil, living with the survivors in the last standing human city of Ravensworth. The pregnant Desdemona de Ardyn, who had been linked to King Marcus, manipulated the avaricious cleric Raymond Tennent to name her as King Marcus's spouse and thus effectively become the Queen of Remon while her daughter would become the Crown Princess of Remon and Marcus's heir apparent. The Wretched assaulted Ravensworth not long after, however, eventually leading to a massacre and forcing Desdemona and the few survivors to flee on ships from the onslaught, thus effectively ending the church's holdings in Remon. Fourth Age The fall of Ravensworth also spelled the doom of the church as a whole as most of its members had died off during the war, rejected their fallen faith when their powers mysteriously diminished after the Catastrophe, or defected to other clergies as happened with Unithien Earthhaven. As the Fourth Age dawned, the Church of the Memory of Cardia was no more, and other organizations associated Cardia but which were not true successors of the Cardian clergies rose to prominence elsewhere such as the Holy Inquisition of Cardia. The priests who remained loyal to Cardia and his teachings but who did not join the Inqusition split off into smaller individual groups and local priesthoods. Many of these priests became wanderers, seeking to keep their teachings alive and fulfill their original duties despite the destruction of the Church of the Memory of Cardia. Culture Armor and Emblems The clerics were often clad in white cloaks and white armor. This symbolized their purity and their oneness with the memory of Cardia. The flag of the church consisted of a golden hand on a field of white. People had often wondered why the symbol was not that of two praying hands, but the members wanted to emphasize that one hand showed the unity of the church and could be both for greeting people and for halting unbelievers from corrupting light. Beliefs The clerics believed that although Cardia's physical manifestation was gone, his memory still lingered and empowered those who remain faithful to his ideas of promoting Order over Chaos. The proof of this in the clerics' view was that they still had access to light magic. The clerics had sworn to save people from darkness even if it required the loss of many lives in the process. Notable members *Almaric Veer - cleric (dead) *Anthony Torquemada - Grand Inquisitor (dead) *Brutus - assassin (dead) *Jonathan Ferron - High Cleric *Raymond Tennent - cleric (dead) *Unithien Earthhaven - white mage See also *Cardia *Clergy of Cardia *Fragnar *Remonton * Category:Grand Alliance Category:Remon Category:Third Age factions